Henry County AlArchives Biographies.....Laney, Z. W. January 29 1829 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 27, 2004, 12:39 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
    Z. W. LANEY, SR. -Among the most enterprising and successful business men of
Abbeville, Henry county, Ala., Z. W. Laney, Sr., stands conspicuously in the
front. He was born in North Carolina, January 29, 1829, and is the fourth in a
family of eleven children born to Evan and Leah (Seccrist) Laney, natives of
Mecklenburg county, that state, where they were married. In 1836, these parents
migrated to Talbot county, Ga., where they resided until 1848, when they moved
to Dale county, Ala., where they bought a very large tract of land, which the
father put in cultivation, and lived upon until his death in 1863, at the age of
sixty-seven years, his wife surviving until 1866, when she passed away at the
age of seventy-one. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south.
Z. W. Laney, Sr., was reared on the home plantation, and educated at the common
schools of Dale county. He was quite young when he was given permission to start
out for himself to make his name and fortune. He was the possessor of a horse
and gun, which he sold for $90, and devoted the proceeds for tuition in the high
school at Louisville, Ala., in which he passed two terms. He then returned to
Dale county, and taught two terms of country school, saving $300, and in 1857
took one more course in the high school, near the termination of which he met a
gentleman who had a son in business in Abbeville and wanted a clerk. A
correspondence ensued, which resulted in Mr. Laney's securing the position,
which he filled until 1861. He then taught in the public school of Abbeville
until 1863, when he enlisted in the Confederate army, but was not allowed to
serve on account of ill health. He therefore returned to his school, and taught
until 1865. He had earned and saved at the commencement of the war about $4,000,
which he invested in the best southern securities, but lost the whole of it, and
the close of the war found him possessed of $2.50 in gold. But he was not
discouraged, and, borrowing $250, he embarked in mercantile business, which he
has successfully conducted to the present day. The marriage of Mr. Laney took
place in 1860, to Miss Ann B. Culver, daughter of L. D. and Melvinia A. Culver.
These parents were natives of Hancock county, Ga., whence they came in 1859 and
settled in Lawrenceville, Henry county, Ala., where they purchased a large
plantation. Here the mother died in 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-three
years; the father still survives, and finds a very comfortable home with Mr.
Laney. Mrs. Laney was born in Hancock county, Ga., in November, 1840, and was
married at the age of twenty years. She has borne her husband five children, of
whom only two survive. The eldest, Pet, is married to William O. Long, a young
business man of Abbeville, and also clerk of the court of chancery; they have
three children: Lloyd, Daisy, and J. B. The son of Mr. Laney, Z. W., Jr.,
married Miss Lula Trawick, and resides in Abbeville. Mr. Laney, Sr., is a member
of Abbeville lodge, No. 91, A. F. & A. M., and is .also a royal arch Mason;
formerly he was an Odd Fellow. He is a straight out democrat, has been a notary
public since 1863, and was recently elected a member of the town board,
receiving every vote cast. He is a great fancier of the horse and the dog, and
shoots the rifle with unerring aim. With his wife, he holds membership with the
Missionary Baptist church.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 1099-1100
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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